Tag Archives: State: Louisiana

Religion Clause Blog: The Louisiana Supreme Court today in a 6-1 decision held that the state’s school voucher program enacted in 2012 violates the state constitution.  In Louisiana Federation of Teachers v. State of Louisiana, (LA Sup. Ct., May 7, 2013) . . .

The American Federation for Children, the nation’s voice for educational choice, today urged the Louisiana Legislature and Governor to find a legislative solution after the Louisiana Supreme Court struck down the current funding mechanism for state’s voucher program. The Court only ruled against the funding of the voucher program and did not strike down the constitutionality of the program.

NRO (includes video): Amidst a controversy over the widespread education-reform project Governor Bobby Jindal has begun in Louisiana, the head of the state’s largest teachers’ union has essentially claimed that children belong to teachers’ unions as much as they do their parents.

Appellate Daily: The Benedictine monks of St. Joseph Abbey in southern Louisiana make and sell wooden caskets to support their monastery. State regulators are not happy about it, though, because they say the monks need a license.

The Times Picayune: Legislation requiring a board-certified physician to be present in the room when abortion-inducing drugs are administered to a pregnant woman cleared a Senate panel Wednesday. Senate Bill 90 . . .

Jonathan Capehart at Washington Post: “I’m a lot, like other people said, my views have evolved on this. But my state has a very strong constitutional amendment against gay marriage, and I think I have to honor that,” Landrieu said. Wait. So, she believes that same-sex couples should be able to marry, but because her state has etched discrimination into its Constitution, she cannot be on the right side of the issue and of history? She can’t show some leadership?

Religion Clause Blog: In Parish of Jefferson v. Daughters of St. Paul Inc., 2013 La. App. LEXIS 599 (LA App., March 27, 2013), a Louisiana appeals court rejected a RLUIPA land use claim brought by Pauline Books & Media, a non-profit corporation of religious women who share their beliefs through media.

Houston Chronicle: During the all night vote-a-rama to pass the Senate budget resolution last week, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz received a less-than-friendly visit from a colleague over his abortion amendment.

AP: Benedictine monks may keep selling plain, low-cost caskets from their monastery outside New Orleans, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, finding that a regulation that only state-licensed funeral directors may sell coffins in Louisiana had no reasonable grounds. | St. Joseph Abbey v. Castille

American Federation for Children: The American Federation for Children—the nation’s voice for educational choice— today applauded the hundreds of Louisiana parents, grandparents, and education reform advocates who traveled across the state to gather outside of the Louisiana Supreme Court in New Orleans to show their support of the Louisiana Scholarship Program.

Blog of the Legal Times: The committee unanimously voted to approve Nelson Roman to be a judge for the Southern District of New York and Shelly Dick for the Middle District of Louisiana. The other nominees had opposition from Republicans: William Orrick for the Northern District of California was approved 11-7, and David Medine for the privacy board was approved 10-8.

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom: Our children are under legal attack. Across the country, a slew of efforts are underway to punish youngsters for the faith of their parents … to intimidate children and their parents out of any public expression of their faith … and to circumvent even the most innocuous program that might somehow benefit Christian children in school.

One News Now: The state, in its appeal of Kelley’s ruling, is asking the state’s highest court to find the voucher program constitutional “in all respects.” Matt Sharp, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, tells American Family News his firm now has joined sides with the state in defending the program in court. “ADF wrote an amicus brief – a friend of the court brief – to the Louisiana Supreme Court arguing that in addition to the source of funding arguments made by the state, we also think that there’s important liberty interests here of parents,” he explains.

World Net Daily: They’re targeting 12 key states: Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Alaska, Arkansas, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia. The strategy was profiled Monday by David Brody of CBN News. Brody said the groups – led by the American Renewal Project – are planning briefings for evangelical pastors, voter-registration drives and other events in an attempt “to restore American to its Judeo-Christian heritage.”

TheHayride.com: Louisiana Family Forum joined Alliance Defending Freedom in filing an amicus brief with the Louisiana Supreme Court in support of the Louisiana Student Scholarship for Educational Excellence program. [more]

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief late last week with the Louisiana Supreme Court in defense of the Louisiana Scholarship Program against an attack by a teachers’ union and several public school boards.

Times Picayune: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration is taking its fight for private school vouchers to the Louisiana Supreme Court, after a district court judge ruled that the way the state is financing the program is illegal.

WWNO.org: The first woman elected to Louisiana’s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal is now the first woman to become its chief judge.

Mirror of Justice provides some details.

LifeNews: At one time, New Orleans had seven fully-operating abortion clinics, but the Louisiana city is down to just one with the expected closure of one of the abortion facilities.

James Gill at Times Picayune: The case for an appointed state judiciary just got much stronger. No jurist under any system is likely to be apolitical, but convention has always required some pretence of impartiality and restraint. Not in the recent Supreme Court election. From the get-go, the winner of the race, Jeff Hughes, declared himself a pro-lifer who loves guns and favors capital punishment. As for marriage, he is for the traditional kind, and you can take him at his word on that because, at 60, he is about to try it for the third time.

Bobby Jindal at the Wall Street Journal (via Google):As an unapologetic pro-life Republican, I also believe that every adult (18 years old and over) who wants contraception should be able to purchase it.

Religion Clause Blog: In Louisiana Federation of Teachers v. State of Louisiana, (LA 19th Dist. Ct., Nov. 30, 2012), a Louisiana trial court held that the state’s voucher program unconstitutionally diverts to nonpublic schools or entities funds which the state constitution’s Minimum Foundation Program . . .

How Appealing reports.

Wall Street Journal (via Google): Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana signed into law an expanded school choice program for underprivileged kids. Naturally, the teachers unions are suing to block it. Oral arguments begin tomorrow.

Washington Post: Shortly before 123 million voters picked a president, 38 Louisiana monks moved the judiciary toward a decision that could change American governance more than most presidents do. The monks’ cypress caskets could catalyze a rebirth of judicial respect for Americans’ unenumerated rights, a.k.a. privileges or immunities.

Citizen Link: ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp said colleges and universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas. “By limiting the distribution of material and free speech to less than 1 percent of the campus, Louisiana State University is violating the constitutionally protected freedoms of students who should be free to express themselves on the sidewalks and open spaces at the university,” he explained.

Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Louisiana State University on behalf of a student restricted from distributing pro-life material beyond a 1,000 square-foot area on campus.

One News Now: Louisiana State University has created an uproar by digitally erasing tiny crosses from a photo of the school’s famous “Painted Posse,” a group of avid Christian students rooting for the LSU football team.

The Times-Picayune: If the monks aren’t vindicated under state law, Tuesday’s ruling leaves no doubt they will prevail when they return to the federal appeals court.

Washington Post: A federal appeals court in New Orleans sided with a Louisiana monastery in the monks’ legal battle with the state to sell their handcrafted cypress caskets. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit said this week that it was skeptical of the motivation behind efforts by the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors to shut down sales of the caskets.

AP: Jindal, who serves on the association’s executive committee, will chair the group in 2013 under a plan that officials say has broad support from other Republican governors. Christie, the current vice chairman, will take over in 2014.

Renew America: Bob Unruh, reporting for WorldNetDaily late last week wrote, The controversy was brought to a head by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the case on behalf of Pastor Paul Gros of Vieux Carre Assembly of God Church at 433 [Dauphine] Street, just a block off of Bourbon.

Religion Clause Blog: For the second time this month (see prior posting), a federal lawsuit was filed challenging a provision in New Orleans “Aggressive Solicitation” ordinance that prohibits loitering or congregating on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter “for the purpose disseminating any social, political, or religious message between the hours of sunset and sunrise.”

Joseph LaRue at Townhall: On October 26, 2011, the city of New Orleans criminalized religious expression on Bourbon Street. Subsequently, in May of this year, a preacher from Vieux Carre Assembly of God Church was told by police that he could not continue discussing religion on Bourbon Street, even though he had been preaching there for the past 30 years every Tuesday and Friday evening.

WorldNetDaily: It’s because the U.S. military apparently has flaunted a same-sex “marriage” that was performed on a military based by a chaplain – in a state where such “unions” are illegal.

Daily Comet: The Denham Springs City Council has unanimously approved an obscenity ordinance. City Attorney Paeton Burkett told the council Wednesday night there are no businesses in the city that would violate the ordinance, but it will prevent such businesses from locating in the city.

Washington Post: Nine preachers and activists who were arrested on Sept. 1 after they allegedly yelled slurs during the Southern Decadence gay pride festival plan to sue the city of New Orleans over the constitutionality of part of its ordinance banning “aggressive solicitation” in the city’s storied French Quarter.

Reuters: Lawyers for Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal have challenged a U.S. federal judge’s ruling that would allow a black state supreme court justice to become the court’s next chief justice.

NOLA.com: Federal District Court Judge Susie Morgan ruled Saturday that Justice Bernette Johnson has the seniority needed to succeed Catherine “Kitty” Kimball as chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court when Kimball retires early next year. In a decision issued just before 7 p.m., Morgan ruled that “any tenure accrued by Justice Johnson between Nov. 16, 1994 and October 7, 2000, is to be credited to her for all purposes under Louisiana law,” which would include determining whether she is the second most senior justice after Chief Justice Kimball.

The Hill: Priebus has been the most welcoming chairman for all groups, including gays and lesbians,” said Kabel. “For the first time, Log Cabin was given official connections at platform, was given hotel rooms, they didn’t have to scramble around to find another hotel, they were given an allotment of RNC hotel rooms and also passes. That’s the first time that’s happened.” And party leaders have tried to distance themselves from the work of the convention’s platform committee, which is dominated by conservatives.

See also: GOP Chair: Doesn’t matter if Akin tied in Missouri, we are not sending him “a penny”

Alan Sears at the Alliance Defending Freedom Blog: On August 17, the 5th Circuit ruled against the owners of several abortion clinics, who had appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit against a Louisiana law requiring them to meet certain patient health and safety regulations. Can you imagine: suing for the right to offer more hazardous abortions? . . . “A woman’s health and safety should always be the most important concern in cases like this, and that is indeed the highest concern of Louisiana health officials,” says Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden, who served as co-counsel for the state health department in arguing to uphold the original district court decision that threw out the lawsuit. “The district court was right to reject this challenge to basic health and safety regulations, and the 5th Circuit has done the right thing in upholding that decision.”

Teachers’ union tries to block new La. voucher program designed to help low-income students

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by several abortion clinics against a Louisiana law that requires them to meet certain patient health and safety regulations.

American Federation for Children: The American Federation for Children—the nation’s voice for school choice—today condemned a recent blog post published by Diane Ravitch, an outspoken opponent of education reform, after the post featured comments she attributed to an anonymous Louisiana teacher that referred to some parents as abusers and rapists while questioning the ability of all parents to choose the best educational environments for their children. In response to the post, the Federation has launched the next phase of a campaign titled “Parents Know Best” . . .

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: I’ve blogged quite a bit about why broad bans on the use of foreign law in American courts are improper. But what about narrower limitations, such as the American Laws for American Courts proposal that has been enacted in some form in Arizona, Louisiana, and Tennessee?

NOLA.com: But in a court pleading Monday, Jindal’s executive counsel, Elizabeth Baker Murrill, joined four attorneys from the New Orleans firm of Christovich & Kearney, who had been assigned by the state to represent members of the Supreme Court aside from Johnson, and made it plain that the governor believes it is a an issue for the state, and not federal court to decide.

Washington Post: Opposition is coming from the Interfaith Alliance, a national, nonpartisan grassroots and educational organization based in Washington that has 185,000 members nationwide made up of 75 faith traditions as well as those of no faith tradition.

NOLA.com: Federal District Court Judge Susie Morgan ruled Monday that the state Supreme Court, per se, cannot intervene in a case being brought by Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson and the original plaintiffs in the Chisum voting rights lawsuit. Johnson and the Chisum plaintiffs are attempting to keep the Supreme Court from pursuing a process to determine whether Johnson is entitled to be the court’s next chief justice, a matter they feel is already settled in Johnson’s favor.

Fox News: A Louisiana teachers union is threatening private schools with legal action if they accept money from a new voucher program – and the threat has already forced at least one school to put its participation in the program on hold.

ACLU press release: The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana issued a letter today to Delhi Charter School in Delhi, Louisiana in response to a policy that requires female students even suspected of being pregnant to submit to a pregnancy exam and forces them out of school if they are pregnant or refuse to take the test.

One News Now: Gene Mills of the Louisiana Family Forum says there is no basis for legal action. “Any school that functions as a private or parochial school and accepts voucher students is acting in accordance with the law and current court precedent,” he tells OneNewsNow.

Religion Clause Blog: In Adams v. City of Alexandria, (WD LA, July 11, 2012), a Louisiana federal district court adopted a magistrate’s recommendations (2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97042, June 20, 2012) and entered a declaratory judgment that a city’s ban on “palmistry, card reading, astrology, fortune-telling, [and] phrenology” violates the First Amendment.

Blog of the Legal Times: The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law filed a motion Thursday on behalf of a Louisiana Supreme Court justice vying to be the next chief justice. The motion, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, is asking the court to enforce its consent judgment that created Associate Justice Bernette Johnson’s position.

Louisiana Federation for Children: The Louisiana Department of Education today announced that the state’s newly-expanded voucher program received more than 10,300 applications during the month-long application period for the statewide program, marking one of the largest single-year application increases ever for a voucher program.

AP: A federal suit filed Thursday on behalf of Justice Bernette Johnson says she is next in line for the job because she qualifies as the court’s longest-serving justice.

TheTownTalk.com: The Louisiana School Boards Association and 34 school boards have joined the legal battle to undo Gov. Bobby Jindal’s voucher program.

Shreveport Times: The Louisiana Association of Educators says it also will file a lawsuit to throw out a set of education changes that Gov. Bobby Jindal pushed and state lawmakers passed. Directors of the teachers’ union also have endorsed an effort to recall Jindal.

Kaiser Health News: The bill signed by Bobby Jindal would also require abortion providers to offer women the opportunity to listen to the fetal heartbeat. In other abortion news, a Michigan legislative panel endorses a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Joel Oster appeared on 1150 WJBO to discuss this. | MP3 audio 2:20 mins

The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty is expressing concern over a recent “same-sex ceremony” conducted in a military chapel at Fort Polk, La. A chaplain conducted the ceremony for two female soldiers.

LifeSiteNews: As the summer heats up, the nation has passed a number of pro-life bills, especially in the state of Louisiana, where legislators voted to restrict abortion to 20 weeks, assure abortions were performed by physicians, and extend a waiting period from two hours to one day.

One News Now: ADF attorney Joel Oster responds. “Faith-based groups shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination — especially a group like this that’s provided such selfless service to at-risk youth and their parents for many years,” says the attorney.

ADF files suit after East Baton Rouge park commission’s ban on religious activities leaves at-risk youth program in the cold

DailyComet.com: A pair of bills intended to discourage women from obtaining abortions is nearing final passage, advancing Wednesday in the Louisiana Legislature with no debate.

Religion Clause Blog: The Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate reports that a petition for certiorari has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Leonard v. Louisiana.

LifeSiteNews: The Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act, an initiative of Republic State Representative Daryl Metcalfe and co-written by the Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund, will place facilities that provide abortions at the bottom of a priority list for funding, allowing more money to go to health care providers that offer services for women such as dental care, mammograms, and treatments for anxiety disorders.

LifeNews: The Louisiana state Senate today approved legislation that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the scientific evidence certifying unborn children have the capacity to feel pain after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

WAFB.com: SB 708 is a measure that would allow a woman to hear the heartbeat of an unborn fetus prior to having an abortion.

KSLA.com (includes video): A woman who was arrested in April after protesting at a Shreveport abortion clinic is speaking out about facing felony charges . . . I think the public record is pretty clear that these guys are behaving and acting like the keystone cops,” said Joel Pearce, Krier’s attorney . . . Pearce wants to go to trial. And he says he’s ready to make the case that his client was targeted for her beliefs. “We are going all the way, we will not negotiate, we will not surrender, and even after that we are going to make sure that Centenary is held accountable for this,” said Pearce . . . “This is not a prosecution, this is a political persecution,” says Pearce.
[Pearce is an ADF allied attorney]

NOLA.com: Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to advance proposals that would impose new strictures on abortion providers, including a measure to require clinicians to make an ultrasound both visible and audible to a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy.

LifeSiteNews: The steady stream of legislation strengthening protections for unborn children and draining funds from the abortion industry has continued in recent weeks. Here are a few of the latest developments . . .

Kelly Boggs at Baptist Press: While the bill was touted as seeking to deal with bullying in broad general terms, there are reasons that indicate the legislation was really about focusing only on gay students.

BastropEnterprise.com: Catherine “Kitty” Kimball said Wednesday that she will leave the court in January after serving for 20 years.

American Federation for Children: Expanded school choice program, which could help thousands of families across the state, builds momentum for educational options nationwide.